Een pige og 39 sømænd

This festive comedy has a theme song that was incredibly popular in its day – but which is missing a verse! The penultimate verse ends as follows: "...there were 39 sailors and one girl, and that's why the censors deleted the last verse." In 1965, it was new and very daring for a girl to go to sea in the merchant navy. But fortunately, Peer Guldbrandsen and director Annelise Reenberg saw that girls also had a future at sea when they wrote the film's screenplay based on Else Boyes' best-selling novel. The moral frown is replaced by a big smile when the pretty radio operator, Else, boards the M/S Warrigal, owned by the magnificent shipowner, Wilhelmine Jacobsen. The trip from Brønshøj to Bangkok – and back – becomes as festive as an archetypal Danish male society can manage when a pretty girl destroys their age-old traditions.

Directed by Annelise Reenberg, Een pige og 39 sømænd leans on a strong ensemble — Birgit Sadolin, Karl Stegger, Morten Grunwald — to carry a story that balances spectacle with character.

The film landed with audiences for its craft and performances, and remains one of the most talked-about romance titles of 1965.